D Rice
Member
What is the proper way to stretch a stairway. I cleaned a carpet yesterday that the homeowner installed and I'm going back to fix it. I attended S.A.'s installation class but we did not get to how reinstall a stairway.
Redo on a stairway
- Thread starter D Rice
- Start date
sweendogg
Member
Are the wrinkles side to side or running parralllel to the steps? Its a bit hard to explain how to do stair without a video but here's a good try.
Regardless of how the wrinkles are oriented. You need to pull the carpet off the steps. Hopefully it was not glued or stapled. If its glued walk from the job or tell him its time to replace the carpet. If it was stapled you will have to remove all the staples from the carpet before reinstalling.
Are the stairs concrete or wood? Is there tackstrip on the treads and or the risers? What condition is the pad in or is there any pad? Are the stairs fitted or water falled? Do you have taylor the edges or are they boxed in? And are you going the full width of the stairs? These are good questions to give us answers to so we can give you some good answers
A technically sound installtion for stairs on a wooden treads and risers or concrete waterfalled and wall to wall is as follows: Tackstrip should be installed on both the tread and riser so that the pins on the tread points towards the riser and the pins on the riser point towards the tread below it. The gully between the two pieces should be less than twice the thickness of the carpet being installed. Install the Tread first followed by the riser. Pad should go from the tackstrip on the tread down to the top of the tackstrip on the riser below and stapled at the top and bottom. Avoid stapeling in the ares of highest traffic. If concrete simply glue the pad on with spray adhesvie or multi purpose floor adhesive.
When cutting the old carpet to fit the stairs. You should attempt to maximize the number of staris you can get per piece of carpet. Run them all the same direction and make sure you run with the length of the carpet. This is vey important as carpet will never stay flat if you attempt to install the width of the carpet up and down the stairs as opposed to the length. Make sure you cut the width either dead on or just a 1/16th under so that the carpet does not produce wrinkles across the stairs. Cut the bottom of all of your starting pieces square so when you start you will be able to keep the stairs going straight. Start a the bottom step and sit your first piece so that it is just barely tuckable between the bottom step and floor. Tuck that piece and rub the carpet on the pins on that riser. Once secured on the lower riser fit the piece up thes stairs loosely making sure to center it with out any gaps or gathering. If the stairs are out of square or not eh same measurement all the way up. You will have to cut it the widest stair for your run and then hand trim the rest in place. Next Kick the first stair on with your kicker starting in the middle and working both direction to the outside. Once you have kicked the carpet onto the tackstrip all the way across, use a stairtool and rubber mallet and slowly work the carpet into the gulley stiking first a forty five and then raising to a 60 degre with your stari tool. Rub the carpet onto the trackstrip with the base of your rubber mallet (if wooden handle). Then repeat for the second third .. fourth ext. until you get to the end of your piece. Cut the residual off long enough to tuck behind the tackstrip. Then start over with your next piece.
Regardless of how the wrinkles are oriented. You need to pull the carpet off the steps. Hopefully it was not glued or stapled. If its glued walk from the job or tell him its time to replace the carpet. If it was stapled you will have to remove all the staples from the carpet before reinstalling.
Are the stairs concrete or wood? Is there tackstrip on the treads and or the risers? What condition is the pad in or is there any pad? Are the stairs fitted or water falled? Do you have taylor the edges or are they boxed in? And are you going the full width of the stairs? These are good questions to give us answers to so we can give you some good answers
A technically sound installtion for stairs on a wooden treads and risers or concrete waterfalled and wall to wall is as follows: Tackstrip should be installed on both the tread and riser so that the pins on the tread points towards the riser and the pins on the riser point towards the tread below it. The gully between the two pieces should be less than twice the thickness of the carpet being installed. Install the Tread first followed by the riser. Pad should go from the tackstrip on the tread down to the top of the tackstrip on the riser below and stapled at the top and bottom. Avoid stapeling in the ares of highest traffic. If concrete simply glue the pad on with spray adhesvie or multi purpose floor adhesive.
When cutting the old carpet to fit the stairs. You should attempt to maximize the number of staris you can get per piece of carpet. Run them all the same direction and make sure you run with the length of the carpet. This is vey important as carpet will never stay flat if you attempt to install the width of the carpet up and down the stairs as opposed to the length. Make sure you cut the width either dead on or just a 1/16th under so that the carpet does not produce wrinkles across the stairs. Cut the bottom of all of your starting pieces square so when you start you will be able to keep the stairs going straight. Start a the bottom step and sit your first piece so that it is just barely tuckable between the bottom step and floor. Tuck that piece and rub the carpet on the pins on that riser. Once secured on the lower riser fit the piece up thes stairs loosely making sure to center it with out any gaps or gathering. If the stairs are out of square or not eh same measurement all the way up. You will have to cut it the widest stair for your run and then hand trim the rest in place. Next Kick the first stair on with your kicker starting in the middle and working both direction to the outside. Once you have kicked the carpet onto the tackstrip all the way across, use a stairtool and rubber mallet and slowly work the carpet into the gulley stiking first a forty five and then raising to a 60 degre with your stari tool. Rub the carpet onto the trackstrip with the base of your rubber mallet (if wooden handle). Then repeat for the second third .. fourth ext. until you get to the end of your piece. Cut the residual off long enough to tuck behind the tackstrip. Then start over with your next piece.
